Himalayan Legends - The Ultimate Expedition

Nineteen nights across the Indian Himalaya, guided, from Delhi to Kullu by way of Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh, which Ride Expeditions run as their flagship expedition.

The green valleys of Himachal come first, with an optional extra day at the start for the Taj Mahal, then the climb into the Spiti Valley, a high desert on the edge of the Tibetan plateau where Kaza has a monastery and very little oxygen, and Lamayuru further on, one of the oldest gompas in Ladakh, standing on eroded clay hills that look like a moonscape.

Umling La is the headline: a pass on the Ladakh plateau that at some 19,000 feet is officially the highest motorable road in the world, built by the Indian army and open only in the summer months. The world’s highest post office is nearby, in a village that posts letters from above 15,000 feet. Pangong Tso follows, a saltwater lake on the Chinese border that runs an improbable blue and freezes solid in winter, with open plains and a very large number of hairpins between all of it.

Bike hire is included, on a Royal Enfield Himalayan 450, with a discount for anyone bringing their own. Twenty days is what a route like this needs: altitude is the main risk and the schedule builds in time to acclimatise rather than racing up. The passes are open from roughly June to September and nothing about the weather up there is predictable. The riding is mostly on sealed road with rough and unsurfaced sections, and the Spiti and Ladakh legs are remote enough that the support vehicle matters.